Rapids hang a banner in honor of the shooting victims in Aurora before Saturday's game against Real Salt Lake in Utah.

The Rapids’ freefall into insignificance in the MLS playoff race continued against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, on Saturday night as Colorado dropped its fifth straight match. With the loss, the Rapids officially surrendered the Rocky Mountain Cup to RSL for a sixth consecutive season.

Although the Rapids starting XI more closely resembled the B-squad lineups former coach Gary Smith ran out against CONCACAF Champions League competition last season, this match was a microcosm of the 2012 MLS season, as the Rapids failed to finish goal-scoring chances, and were punished for defensive mistakes, losing 2-0.

Against Toronto, we saw the same things we’ve seen time and time again from this squad: lots of possession at times, some lackluster defending and plenty of chances that went wanting. There were some good signs throughout the game, of course. For once, a tweak to a road lineup worked out well in the form of Wells Thompson getting a start, and Tyson Wahl showed decently in his first ever start as a Rapid.

Still, when a 2-1 loss is staring you in the face, the negatives always seem to outweigh the positives. The ratings:

The Rapids continued to juggle their lineup in Seattle, but the result was a fourth loss in five games.

This installment of Rapids player ratings brought to you by Andrew Villegas, a Colorado-native journalist based in Washington, D.C., who also writes for the blog The Yanks Are Coming Find Andrew on Twitter @ReporterAndrew.

Seattle — or should that be the Sounders’ Steve Zakuani and Qwest Field — certainly seems to be in the heads of the Colorado Rapids. After Saturday, and despite a questionable offside call that disallowed an Omar Cummings goal, Colorado is still sleepless, er, winless in Seattle.

In a seesaw year for the Rapids — spent mostly in the sand than up in the air — the club looks less like the Western Conference bullies they used to be than a softer version of their former selves — before a crushing Brian Mullan tackle on Zakuani that broke Zakuani’s leg last season. But it’s hard to blame them for it, many would say: A new coach and injuries to key players have the Rapids, if not in rebuilding mode, in wait-and-see mode.

It’s been a big week for the Rapids, on top of the Sounders game that gave fans some closure after Zakuani and Mullan exchanged jerseys after the game, the club also parted ways with fan favorite fullback Kosuke Kimura, who was traded to the Portland Timbers for allocation money and an international player slot. And after dropping their 4th of July game 0-1 to Vancouver where they dominated the run of play for much of the match, the Rapids have more soul searching to do, and head coach Oscar Pareja has more lineup searching to do to find the right mix of players, if it exists.

The 2012 edition of the Colorado Rapids seems to have an unfortunate Jekyll and Hyde complex when it comes to finishing.

Had the Rapids converted the chances they created against Vancouver as well as they did against Portland last week, then Wednesday’s game would have been lauded as another fine success by Oscar Pareja’s powerful offense.

Similar to the first Vancouver game — a match strikingly similar to Wednesday’s when you look at it — there’s going to be mostly good scores given here to the Rapids players after a great overall performance ruined because of bad luck.

Of course, in any game where you start Scott Palguta, you run the risk of embarrassment, and that’s just what the Rapids got. Of course, the center back depth is a topic for another day, but Palguta’s center back play was pretty crucial in this, one and these player ratings show it:

COMMERCE CITY — League play doesn’t resume until June 16 for the Colorado Rapids — and that, says coach Oscar Pareja, might be just enough time to get nearly every injured player back in uniform.

Forwards Conor Casey (hamstring) and Omar Cummings (ankle), and midfielders Jaime Smith (ACL) and Brian Mullan (knee) are all closing in on a return to the pitch for the Rapids when they resume MLS play at Vancouver in 11 days.

“Omar is close,” Pareja said. “Omar is just doing now more natural movement and more aggressive drills. I think we will have a good chance to have Omar back that day. The same with Conor and Jaime Smith and Mullan as well. They’re close.”

Pareja noted defender Marvell Wynne (hamstring) has a chance to return by June 16, but at this point it appears to be a bit of a long shot.

Kosuke Kimura was back on the Rapids backline Saturday against Sporting K.C. -- and he scored.

This installment of Rapids player ratings come courtesy of Craig de Aragon, a longtime Rapids fan, committee member with the Class VI supporters group and current Rapids correspondent on the “Around The League” show on the Champions Soccer Radio Network:

I spent Saturday morning sitting in a classroom learning how to do CPR and First Aid. After giving up two goals to Sporting Kansas City in the first 14 minutes of the game, I thought I was going to have to use my newly acquired skills to revive the fledgling, flat-lining Rapids team.

Fortunately, that was unnecessary, as the make-shift backline was able to figure things out. They not only held Sporting Kansas City scoreless for the rest of the game, but they scored both goals to give the Rapids a much needed draw and point.

Without regular starters Omar Cummings, Marvell Wynne, Pablo Mastroeni and Brian Mullan, Rapids coach Oscar Pareja gave us much to discuss with his curious starting line up decisions.

Even with Conor Casey back in the starting lineup, the Rapids struggled again on the road.

This installment of Rapids player ratings brought to you by Andrew Villegas, a Colorado-native journalist based in Washington, D.C., who also writes for the blog The Yanks Are Coming Find Andrew on Twitter @ReporterAndrew.

Having 10 days off can do one of two things to a club. Played right, it can refresh them — leading to sharper play both mentally and physically. But it also is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it can lull a team to sleep. Without the competitive touches of play and the sharpening eat-or-be-eaten mentality, skills suffer even after only a few days off. Soccer players know this, and the Rapids learned the hard way Wednesday night that the latter is all too real a possibility, especially on the back end of a three-game road trip when they fell 2-0 to a streaking D.C. United club that is third in the East.

In the front, the Rapids offense continues to sputter. Lots of good possessions were wasted, faded into the D.C. night as Conor Casey and Tony Cascio couldn’t quite hookup. The two obviously haven’t had much time together to figure out just how they will play off each other, though Casey’s holdup play showed a touch of what the Rapids missed while he was sidelined. And both teams suffered the pitch, which was slippery after a couple days of rain at RFK stadium in east D.C.

Things get no easier for the Rapids as they return home to face first-place side Sporting K.C., but the Rapids must be hoping home is sweet as the road is long.

This week’s Rapids player-ratings come care of Kevin Villegas, a Denver native who has been following the Rapids since their inaugural season, plays midfield himself and works as a producer for a local advertising agency.

It’s possible Daniel Hernandez and Blas Perez both woke up on the wrong side of the bed Sunday morning. Maybe they didn’t get their two pieces of bacon, or their eggs were cooked wrong.

Hernandez was sent off in the 34th minute for accumulation of yellow cards, and Perez was shown a straight red for a studs-up challenge on Drew Moor. For the remainder of the game, the Rapids played poised, patient football.

They enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession, and found the back of the net in the 61st minute and 74th minute. Castrillon and Rivero, two key offseason acquisitions for the new Rapids front office, were the goal scorers. Brian Mullan was on the service side for both goals.

Nine games into the season and Oscar Pareja's Rapids lineup is still not settled because of injuries.

This week’s Rapids player-ratings come care of Kevin Villegas, a Denver native who has been following the Rapids since their inaugural season, plays midfield himself and works as a producer for a local advertising agency.

It’s often said that possession is everything in soccer. But as last night’s game between the Colorado Rapids and New England Revolution proves, the numbers that really matter at the end of the day are on the scoreboard.

In the imposed parity of Major League Soccer, no team goes on the road insisting that a point is good enough. But for a mid-week game on turf on the other side of the country, the Rapids might have had just that in mind.

What started with good possession ended with chances unfulfilled, led by bad finishing and a lack of a final pass. Add some tired legs into the equation, and it’s no wonder the Revs took all three.

Daniel was first introduced to soccer at age 6 while living in Düsseldorf, West Germany. He played youth soccer in West Germany until age 9, and then in Seattle, where he is originally from. He works as the day breaking news editor and also contributes on the Rapids beat.